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| Company type | Private (company number: 26481) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media/Music retail |
| Founded | 1 July 1962 in Dublin, Ireland |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
| Products | Records, CDs, DVDs, Accessories, Merchandise |
| Website | goldendiscs |
Golden Discs, officially Golden Disc Group Ltd., is Ireland's largest and oldest home-entertainment specialist retail chain.
Golden Discs was established in 1962 on Dublin's Tara Street by Jack Fitzgerald and Tom Rogers as Trans-Atlantic Record Agency (TARA), in the location of the former Tara Records founded by George O'Reilly. The name Golden Discs was first used in 1966.
The chain experienced rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s, opening 30 outlets including five in Northern Ireland.[ citation needed ]
In the year ended March 2001, Golden discs opened two new shops, in the Pavillion Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin and in the Crescent Centre in Limerick. Its turnover rose by 14% that year, to €29.7 million, and its after-tax profit rose by 31%, to €833,000. [1]
The chain's presence around the country had diminished in the early part of the 2000s, making a significant loss by 2008 [2] and entering examinership in 2009, [3] with multiple shop closures during this period, in line with similar trends with other physical music and movie retailers in other markets.
In November 2016, it was announced that Golden Discs concessions would move into more than half of Tesco Ireland's supermarkets as part of a three-year commercial agreement. "Golden Discs at Tesco" concessions operated as standalone units within Tesco supermarkets, offering CDs, DVDs and Games. The agreement made Golden Discs Ireland’s largest home-entertainment retailer with 96 locations nationwide. This agreement came to an end in 2019.[ citation needed ]
In 2013, Golden Discs reported its first profit since 2008 [4] and subsequently expanded its retail footprint.[ citation needed ] In 2017, the company set about its first attempts at expansion since the national economic recession with the opening of three new branches in November of that year located in The Square Town Centre, Tallaght, Main Street, Wexford and a pop up shop at 52 Henry Street, Dublin 1. The company also overhauled its website in the same year and made its full product offering available for purchase online.[ citation needed ] As of September 2014, the company reportedly employed "more than 100 people across 17 stores". [5]
In 2018, shops opened in Navan Town Centre Shopping Centre, County Meath, Market Cross Shopping Centre, Kilkenny and Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Dublin.[ citation needed ]
In 2019, an increase in turnover to €13.2m and profits to €192,000 was cited as being down to an increase in sales of vinyl. [6] The company opened new stores in Sligo, Tralee, Drogheda and Jervis Shopping Centre.[ when? ]
Like all other Irish retailers, the chain shut its doors in March 2020 due to the restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The company offered click-and-collect services from various shops during lockdown periods. Golden Discs stores re-opened in June 2021.[ citation needed ]
The company celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022. [7]
In 2022, the company closed its branch in Tralee, and subsequently closed two of its Cork City shops in 2023, diminishing its presence in Munster. In 2023, the company also closed its Dún Laoghaire shop after over 20 years of business. [8]
Golden Discs stocks most formats of physical music and movies, including LP records, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and 4K Ultra-HD discs.
Golden Discs also focuses on hardware, stocking various turntables, speakers and headphones. Recently,[ when? ] the company has expanded its footprint in Merchandise and K-Pop music.[ citation needed ]
As by 2014, the company had 17 stores. [5] As of late 2023, in addition to its online business, there were reportedly 21 "brick and mortar" branches of Golden Discs throughout Ireland. [9] These included:[ citation needed ]
In 2022, Golden Discs launched a concept shop, Pop Merchandise (styled as 'POP!'), across most of its outlets. This an in-store division specialised in music and movie-related merchandise. The company cited an increase in interest around pop culture products as the driving force for the new concept shop.[ citation needed ]
The Golden Disc Group also owns and operates 'Vinyl8', an online-only shop launched specifically targeted at "the dedicated vinyl enthusiast". [10]
Golden Discs today operates 21 stores nationwide and online at goldendiscs.ie (domestic) and goldendiscs.com (international)